Chapter 5

Trying to look through the cage next to his, Tuda wondered how his sister was doing. He had not seen her move since the men had tossed her into a cage two doors down from his own. The intervening cage was filled with furs, preventing him from seeing if his sister stirred since they had been brought onboard. Were it not for her occasional moans of pain, she could have been dead as far as he knew. He had tried calling to her a couple of times after the shouted commands coming from above his head had quieted down but she had not responded.

Having nothing else to do, he sat there looking around at what these things would buy him. He would have had a share if they had been allowed to sell what they had taken. Now he was to be a slave. He knew how slaves were treated in his village with his mother nothing more than a slave herself. He had planned on buying her freedom so they all could leave. Even his sister agreed and had come with him along with a number of others from the villages surrounding his own. Looking at the other cages which were empty, he wondered what had happened to them, did they survive.

He was sitting there wondering what had gone wrong with their plan to take a few ships and then leave, when he heard his sister moan again. This time he was sure she was waking up as the sounds coming from her sounded more like someone who was in pain. Looking in her direction he could see the top of her head swaying behind the bars in the other cage.

Thinking about what he wanted to say to his sister, Tuda thought about asking how she was feeling but knew already, having been hit in the head more than once himself. Instead, Tuda offered, “You should not have attacked that woman, sister.”

Taking a moment to get her thoughts as she was still unsteady from the hit to her head, Esai asked, “Who did I attack and how did I get in this cage?”

“You attacked a shaman.”

“What shaman? Our shaman died with everyone else.”

“Not our healer, the big woman who healed their wounded with herb lore, she is also a shaman. Right after you tried to bite her, she jumped up saying something and I felt the power just before she hit you, making your head spin; you fell to the ground unconscious. Even father never hit me hard enough to spin my head around. I thought she might have broken your neck because you just fell to the ground and didn’t move.”

“You must be mistaken Tuda, no woman hits that hard, “Esai stated.

“I am not saying she did it by herself, she used magic, and she is a shaman.”

“You do not know what you are talking about Tuda; to use magic requires a ritual. Even our shaman use rituals to summon magic. Who knows maybe since she was up for more than a day she may have chewed certain plants to keep her awake. For some rituals I have seen our shaman do that and afterwards he moved very fast, maybe that is what she did. The stories of men using magic with only a word are told to entice or scare children. She must have had an amulet or some other device she summoned the power from.”

To his sister Tuda agreed not wanting to fight with her. She was always smarter than he was, in his heart though, he knew what he saw.

For those above deck life returned to the monotony of life on the river. The exception now was instead of the two boats moving in concert there were six boats but only two boats had captains who knew the river even that gave them little comfort as the experienced crews were now divided up so that all the boats had a few experienced crewmen. The rest of the positions on the six boats were now manned by the men and boys who were not too seriously wounded in the fighting with varying amounts of success.

Wahleia heard everything being shouted out on deck and laughed more than once as she heard the captain and a few of the crewmen cursing about what was happening. Those moments of lightheartedness were few for her though. She had her own issues to work on, caring for nearly a dozen men, each in a bunk, who had received serious wounds requiring time to heal. She worried too about Doort’s son, he was still unconscious after all she had done for him. Then there was the issue of the two wolf pups the men had given her for her services. Their history was a mystery as the men who had given them to her stated their mother had been a wolf. As busy as she had been she never had a chance to see for herself, but after watching them play with the wounded men she thought the two of them might be even more than mere wolves like Ferot or the ones who harassed her village looking for an easy meal. The two of them were docile enough now but how long they would stay that way she wondered, requiring her to spend even more time training them before they were large enough to be considered dangerous by others. In the time they had been with her the black one had already ruined the strap on her pack, chewing his way through the leather.

The female was very different from her brother as she hid her activities requiring Wahleia to keep an eye on her. Even then Wahleia thought the wolf was watching her not with the eyes of an animal but with eyes similar to Ferot’s.

When one of the men groaned, she put her thoughts about the wolves away and turned to see what the man needed.

By the end of the first day the men and boys who had been pressed into service as river men for the journey to Namatar were working well enough on the calm sections of the river though neither captain thought it a good idea to beach their boats for the night. If they were to become stuck in the mud beaching them wrong or two fast their journey to Namatar would take that much more time. Instead, with the slow moving water to be found in the wider sections of the river, the boats were moored together with three of the boats setting anchors to hold them in place. For the next two days the boats were able to find slow water to anchor in and all six boats stayed together at night.

On the dawn of the third day since the convoy had started down river she could tell there was excitement onboard all of the boats and she knew as everyone aboard did, they would land at Namatar before noon. She was glad because as well as she had done keeping the wounded alive, Doort’s son still had not regained consciousness and his condition worried her, though he had been moaning more often. She was not sure if his moaning was good or bad but after four days she was very concerned.

With her other responsibilities out of the way she had one she knew she still needed to take care of. She had ignored the two slaves she now owned; of them saying her wounded needed her more. Even though she’s had most of the wounded spread out to the different boats once they could be moved. Stepping down into the hold, the smell told Wahleia no one had been down here in three days to care for her slaves. Looking at them she could see the boy’s condition was decent though he had not had water in three days though how had managed she did not want to know. Taking a chance, she put one of the trays she carried near the bars. Waiting for him to reach for the food, Wahleia asked, “So what do I do with you two now? We’ll be in Namatar shortly and I am told the slave market there is less than vibrant and I would make more if I take you as far as Greenwater to sell you there.”

Wahleia could see the boy understood what she was saying though he remained quiet while she stood in front of him, watching him. In the end his hunger and thirst had him making the first move towards what she had placed on the floor.

Drinking the water to regain his voice, Tuda spoke, asking, “If this is all the food we get, could my sister have it? She is not feeling well.”

Surprised at having him speak, she answered, saying, “I appreciate you offering your food to your sister but there is no need. I have brought food for both of you. What do you mean she is not feeling well?” The last she said stepping over to the other cage.

The shout for the captain, by Wahleia, startled Tuda as he had taken a bite of the food and was not expecting anything dramatic; as he had talked to his sister that day. With the woman shouting for the captain as she climbed the stairs, Tuda was afraid for his sister. His unease grew when the woman returned only this time accompanied by two of the men who had attacked their village. Opening the cage it was the woman who spoke telling both men to be careful as they pulled his sister. Before he realized what was happening the two men had his sister between them carrying her up the stairs, out of the hold, to where he did not know. What he did know was the wound his sister had on her leg smelled bad as they carried her past his cage.

With Wahleia the last one there but heading in the same direction as his sister, Tuda called out, saying, “Please save her, she’s my sister.”

The hold grew quiet after Tuda had asked the woman to save his sister. How much time passed he did not know, his only gauge being the light through the holes in the deck which had moved since the boat docked. Lunch time came and he was surprised as one of the men brought down some bread and cheese while his cup was filled with water. He wanted to ask what was going on with his sister, but his promise to her when they were captured held his tongue as well as the other men who opened the hold to remove the various bundles stored around him.

Listening to the men talk, as they worked, Tuda was encouraged: someone was helping his sister as the men wondered why the healer was taking care of the slave, trying to save her leg. All of them continued to talk and he got a chill as another worker guessed it was to save their value, a one legged slave would not be worth much. Tuda wanted to ask why they thought his sister was going to lose her leg but in keeping with what his sister wanted, not letting anyone know they could talk, all he could do was listen and hope to hear how his sister was doing.

Sitting in his cage, Tuda never got the chance to find out about his sister as he had fallen asleep after the men had finished unloading the bales from the hold. It was only when he woke up sometime after dark that he realized food and water had been left for him though no one was around. With nothing else to do he ate what he thought of as soup though there was no taste to it and any warmth it might have had was gone by the time he ate it. There was also water which he did not waste as he drank everything left in the cup before going back to sleep.

Waking up in the morning, Tuda could see someone had already been down in the hold because there was once again food and drink waiting for him. Eating his breakfast he wondered what it all meant because for three days he and his sister had nothing not even water but now for an entire day he had been fed and had water to drink, though not enough to fully satisfy his thirst. Sitting in his cage thinking and wondering what everything meant, he was startled when three men he did not know opened the door in front of him, ordering him out. Shocked at the suddenness of being ordered out Tuda did as he was told exiting the cage but standing meekly between the three men who had obviously been ordered to fetch him. Seeing no way to get past them to escape, he did not resist as an iron band went around his neck while shackles were placed on his wrists.